Media, Message and Money -- Rebovich Institute Dissects Hotly Contested Race
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“Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd, and nothing attracts money like money,” said Mark Warren, campaign manager for U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-3) of his strategy to build an early fundraising lead in the race for New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District seat. “You are really running two campaigns at the same time – one for the hearts and minds of the voters, and one for the political insiders and the media. We want them to think we are winning.”
The District 3 race was one of the most carefully followed and scrutinized congressional races in the country. Campaign managers, media consultants and pollsters for Adler and the Republican candidate, Medford Mayor Chris Myers, gave an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at their strategies and tactics of this campaign at the inaugural Managers Conference hosted by The Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics on February 13. The three-and-a-half-hour series of panel discussions was attended by Rider students, faculty and staff; campaign and legislative staffers; and special guests.
Composed of portions of Burlington County and Ocean County, as well as the Township of Cherry Hill in Camden County, the 3rd District seat had been held since 1984 by the popular Jim Saxton, a Republican who routinely won landslide reelections. In September 2007, then-State Sen. John Adler announced that he would challenge Saxton for the seat. Saxton announced his retirement from Congress shortly thereafter, citing health issues. An open congressional seat during a presidential year in a multimedia market district (such as this, which occurred in both the New York and Philadelphia markets) was fertile ground for a nail-biting, hard-hitting political fight. On November 4, Adler defeated Myers, and the story of that campaign as it unfolded made for a candid and interesting post-mortem led by those who waged the battle.
“This was the first of what we hope will be an annual event hosted by The Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics,” said Ben Dworkin, director of the Institute. “Each year we will focus on one of the most competitive races from the previous November. We believe that by learning about how politics is currently done, we can impact the debate over how it should be done.”
Those in attendance learned not only about campaign ads and the candidates’ messages, but also about the impact that timing can have on a race. “The only thing that is quantifiable early in a campaign is the quarterly fundraising report,” said Warren. “So we needed to show the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) and the other PACs (political action committees) that we could raise money early because they make the decisions as to which campaigns they are going to fund.”
Warren’s Republican counterpart, Chris Russell, agreed that money was a big factor in the race and lamented that the Myers campaign had to spend so much of it during a bruising primary against Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly. “We didn’t have enough money left in the general election to tell the good story of Chris Myers and the bad story of John Adler,” Russell explained. “So, we decided to just tell the bad story of John Adler. And, we were never able to shake them off their message that Chris Myers and George Bush were best friends.”
Consultants Steve Ayscue, who worked for Adler, and Ed Traz, from the Myers campaign, continued the discussion showing their media campaigns through direct mail pieces, television ads and social network videos.
“The most effective TV ad John Adler had was Barack Obama,” Traz said. “Every time I turned around, Obama was on TV. I won’t take anything away from the Adler campaign, but they had a lot of help.
“There was a while when John McCain and Sarah Palin started to become the face of the party and we started to do well,” Traz continued. “But when the economy collapsed, Bush became the face again, and we couldn’t fight against it.”
Warren agreed. “The light bulb moment for us was when we went on the Obama Web site and invited people to a ‘watch party’ during the National Convention,” he explained. “When we had over 100 RSVPs in less than four hours, it suddenly became the Obama-Adler Headquarters, and we were able to use the Obama enthusiasm for Adler.”
After showing and explaining the 30-second television spots and a nearly two-minute personal video of Adler’s life that never aired on television, but was posted on the campaign’s Internet sites, Ayscue provided insight into what it takes to be a successful candidate and for messages to stick with the voters. “Believability is very important,” he said. “You have to be for something, not just against something, and your message has to pass the smell test. You also have to be transparent about yourself. That’s why John Adler agreed to so many debates. He said, ‘Look, this is who I am. This is what I believe. I have nothing to hide.’”
Ultimately, Adler won the race, 52 percent to 48 percent, with pollster Drew Lieberman – who served on the conference’s third panel – citing Adler’s performance in Republican-controlled Ocean County as the most significant factor in the victory. Undoubtedly, 2010 will be a challenging reelection campaign for Adler without Barack Obama atop the ticket. National Republicans will almost certainly target him in their attempt to gain seats in the House of Representatives. The Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics will keep a close eye on Adler and his performance in Washington. This will likely be another hotly contested and interesting election to analyze in two years.
